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Saturday, February 9, 2013

It
was the mix between an enormous enthusiasm, the excitement of being
riding around the world again, the strong need to get to see the
“new” stuff, the anxiousness to get to Guangzhou 广州,
lying 2300km (1430miles)
ahead,
on time for Christmas to meet my “co-pilot”, what left me limping
by the 5th
day. All this “excess of enthusiasm” hit my knees extremely hard.
I had cycled more than 15.000km (9400miles)
in the last four years, but due to the more ephemeral nature of those
journeys, no matter how hard they had been, especially the ones
across Tibet, I had been able to carry less weight. Now, I was
already carrying what is typical for any long-hauler. I left home
with little over 60kg(135pounds),
a moderate weight to start, especially considering the awful weight
of my photography gear and related equipment. This weight would allow
me to get fit and ready for the times when carrying food and winter
clothes would possibly increase
it up
to 80kg (180pounds)
However, at pace of more than a 100km (63mi)
a day along roads that were becoming increasingly difficult, it was
more than my knees could take in such a short period of time.
Needless to say, I couldn't think of a worse scenario, since I was
just crossing into Guizhou province 贵州省.

Guizhou
贵州
is
officially the poorest province of China but also, proportionally,
one of the less visited by both Chinese and foreigners. That is
possibly the reason why in my mind it was so enigmatic and because of
this, I deliberately traced my route all across it. I entered
Guizhou贵州
from
its westernmost tip, crossing the river Chishui赤水,
reaching the town bearing the same name. I had got to it following a
secondary and already very mountainous road of Sichuan province 四川
and
at that time I really wasn't able to imagine what lied ahead. I had
done my homework and of course I knew it was a mountainous province,
what I didn't know yet was that for the next 1000km (620mi)
approximately, there were not going to be more than a 100 consecutive
meters (300ft) of flat road. Guizhou 贵州
has
the geography of a different planet.

As
soon as I left Chishui 赤水,
cutting across a thick bamboo forest, the changes were immediate. On
the way to Xishui 习水,
in towns and villages, traffic became noticeably more chaotic,
pollution increased, buildings were more precarious, with facades
with no finishes or finished half-way. There was no aesthetic appeal
of any kind, constructions were not even picturesque, but this is the
case in all China anyway. On the other hand, landscape became greener
and wilder. The climbs started from the very beginning. The soil
became red and I could see very long and thin waterfalls falling for
dozens of meters from high up above, filtering through thick forests
and bare rock cliffs. After a while, the forest gave way to deep
canyons following winding emerald green rivers. From these, I would
start climbing up until the ridge from where I would see a new
valley, each with its own extra planetary topography. Every climb
would bring a new way down to a new valley and the slopes were
unforgiving to my knees. With every step I took on the pedal I felt
like a sharp iron bar piercing through my knee caps. Sometimes the
pain was so bad that I couldn't concentrate on the beauty around me
any more. Music, which is usually soothing, helped sometimes but It
would still hurt when the punishing slopes became very steep. A
series of intricate rice terraces started to dominate the landscape
among mountains that seemed to accommodate themselves in the most
whimisical way.

It did not take long for me to realize that when
looking straight at the horizon, there wasn't one, because nothing
was placed at the same level. Crossing Guizhou贵州felt
like being trapped in this massive 3D maze in which movement never
occurs in one direction but in all of them, and it sometimes take
only a handful of meters to switch from one to the other. Days were
almost perpetually grey and the fog was low and thick when I saw,
across the river I was cycling along, a fantastic village of
traditional houses.